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CFTC Orders Former Bank Trader and New York City Resident to Pay $360,000 Penalty in Connection with False Trading Reports Submitted to His Former Employer, Bank of America

Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today settled charges against Michael Moster for submitting false reports to the Bank of America in Chicago, where he once worked as a trader, and ordered Moster to pay a $360,000 civil penalty.

The CFTC issued an order on February 11, 2009, which finds that, during a three-day period in January 2004, Moster, a former proprietary trader for the Bank of America, falsely reported to the bank that he purchased 4,000 Treasury futures contracts to conceal the risk associated with large unauthorized positions in Treasury bonds that he established over the same time period, by making it appear as if the long futures position hedged the Treasury bond risk. By the following week, the fictitious trades inflated the value of his trading book by over $12 million, the order finds. The sale of Moster’s unauthorized Treasury bond position resulted in a loss of approximately $12.2 million to the Bank of America.

Based upon the same conduct, Moster pled guilty on September 18, 2008, to a one-count violation of making false entry into the books and records of a bank in the Southern District of New York. Under the criminal sentencing guidelines, Moster will be required to make full restitution of the over $12 million loss he caused to the Bank of America. The CFTC’s order recognizes the restitution made in the context of the criminal case and provides that Moster must pay and satisfy any criminal restitution obligation before his payment of the CFTC civil monetary penalty.

The following CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members are responsible for this case: Ken Koh, Todd Kelly, Peter Haas, Paul Hayeck, and Joan Manley.